Acceleration of Follicular Development after HucMSC-exo Treatment
Paired ovaries were treated with or without HucMSC-exos for 24 h and transplanted into kidney capsules of the same recipient by ovariectomy. (A) Ovaries at 14 days after transplantation. Isolated ovaries from control (Ctrl) versus HucMSC-exos (Exo) treatment. Scale bar, 1 mm. (B) Comparison of ovarian weight between control and exo-treated ovaries (n = 5). (C) Ovarian histology showing more antral follicles in HucMSC-exo-treated ovaries. Scale bar, 50 μm. (D) Distribution of different stages of follicles with or without exposure to HucMSC-exos. Primo, primordial follicle; Prima. primary follicle; Sec, secondary follicle; EA, early antral follicle; LA, late antral follicle. n = 5/group. (E) Relative expression of follicular growth and development-related genes in ovaries of each group. The levels of all tested mRNAs in control group were set to 1. n = 3/group. (F) Immunofluorescence of Cx37 in ovaries treated with or without HucMSC-exos. Arrows point to oocytes. Green represents Cx37; blue represents Hoechst 33342. Scale bar, 20 μm. (G) Western blot of Cx37 expressions in ovaries treated with or without HucMSC-exos. The expression of β-actin was used as an internal control. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.